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A City and Its Stream: The Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project

This book is about a stream called Cheonggyecheon that runs through the center of Seoul, South Korea, and its transformative effects on the city’s urban conditions and future aspirations. Since it opened in October 2005, this project has attracted millions of visitors annually and become a prominent aspect of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s efforts to improve the amenity and quality of life for its citizens. Beyond local impacts, Cheonggyecheon also came to symbolize a major paradigm shift in Korean urbanization. It signaled the finality of a turning point in discourse about the city – official and otherwise – from an ambivalence about public projects to an optimistic forward-looking attitude, from a focus on relatively functional matters to broader issues about lifestyle and livability, and from simply managing urban affairs to actively promoting public good.